The government
charged Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, aka Mother Mushroom, with three criminal counts
under Article 88 — "conducting propaganda against the State of the Socialist
Republic of Vietnam." The vaguely worded law has drawn international
denunciation for the power it gives the government to suppress dissent.

Nguyen Ha Luan, a
lawyer who represents Quynh, said that he and another lawyer, Le Luan, had been
certified to represent her before the Khanh Hoa Province People's Court.

Two other
lawyers, Vo An Don and Nguyen Kha Thanh, posted on Facebook that Quynh had
requested their representation as well.

"Nguyen Ngoc Nhu
Quynh's dedication to exposing corruption, raising awareness about environmental
protection, and reporting on human rights violations in Vietnam is an
inspiration for activists everywhere and has made her one of Vietnam's
best-known online activists," said Grace Choi, a spokeswoman for the State
Department's East Asia-Pacific Office in March.

U.S. diplomats in
Hanoi and Saigon posted news of Mother Mushroom's recognition to Facebook,
attracting thousands of "likes" before the official ceremony. Vietnam's Foreign
Ministry criticized the honor.

Quynh began
blogging as Mother Mushroom in 2006. Among her recent campaigns, she blogged
about the government's handling of achemical
spillat a Taiwanese-owned
steel plant in the central Vietnam city of Ha Tinh. The spill killed 80 tons of
fish, embarrassing and worrying the Vietnamese government as images of dead fish
stacked on pristine beaches went viral worldwide and fishing communities lost
their livelihood.

Thousands of
protesters demonstrated at the plant and in cities throughout Vietnam, and the
April 2016 Ha Tinh fish kill is widely seen as having raised environmental
awareness and activism among Vietnamese.

The movement saw
an early success when the Taiwanese-owned steel company accepted full
responsibility for the fish kill and pledged to pay $500 million in damages for
dumping toxic wastewater into the South China Sea.